AP Report: Jihadis Using Cruise Ships for Travel to Syria, Iraq

According to a report from the Associated Press, jihadi fighters are turning to cruise ships as a way to slip past security screenings as they make their way to Syria and Iraq to join fighting there.

Previously, Turkey had been a popular entrypoint for extremists looking to join the fighting due to its long and largely insecure border with Syria. However a new AP report claims that recent security crackdowns in that country have led to would-be jihadis seeking an alternate form of entry to places like Syria and Iraq: cruise ships.

Speaking to the Associated Press, Pierre St. Hilaire, director of counterterrorism at Interpol, said, "Because they know the airports are monitored more closely now, there's a use of cruise ships to travel to those areas. There is evidence that the individuals, especially in Europe, are traveling mostly to Izmit (Turkey) and other places to engage in this type of activity.”

St. Hilaire told the AP that data analysis had begun strongly suggesting a pattern of extremists using cruise ships in the last few months to access conflict zones such as Syria and Iraq due to the fact that they could simply leave the ship at any number of ports, making their movements more difficult to track.

Interpol cites this growing body of evidence as further reason to expand its I-Checkit program, which currently collects passenger information from airlines and shares it with Interpol. Under this expansion, the system could draw from “cruise operators, banks, hotels and other private sector partners,” according to the report.

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